Results 2,401-2,420 of 13,291 for speaker:Joe McHugh

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: Ideally, we want to have the work done during the summer. However, issues sometimes arise in October or March. These are things that are out of control. If there is something specific relating to the school in question, I would be happy to get my officials to follow up on it. Reference was made to higher education and the Cassells report. I know the committee deliberated on the report...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: The issue has gone on for too long and I want to see progress on it and a solution. I hope when we put heads together something may come out of it.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: Technically, as Minister, it is not my role to be at the Workplace Relations Commission talks. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan will be able to attest to that. From my time in politics, I have learned that nothing gets sorted if people do not talk or engage. The only way we can make progress is if the mechanisms in place continue to be used. The 1978 scheme was changed in 2008. I find it...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: There is a lesson to be learned in terms of how we get the message across. The school secretaries do it through the channels open to them. They have had protests and there was a campaign in all the constituencies. I believe this issue has gone on for far too long. We need to get people talking around a table. Deputy Ó Laoghaire spoke about school transport, special needs and buses...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: Once we get that analysis and the data, this committee will be the first port of call. We can then see how we progress that. There will have to be a consultation with stakeholders. Without wishing to pre-empt this, it will take apart the original geographical grounds. I hope it will be a signpost for us as to where to go. The first port of call at the democratic level should be this...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: The Chairman asked about school salaries. I talked about supply panels, the pilot and school secretaries. I acknowledge her point about home school liaison. That link with communities has never been more important. Home school liaison officers get right into the house, sit down at the hearth and drink tea with the families. They get to know parents and build up a relationship which is...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: Could the Chairman expand a bit on what she is suggesting?

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: The place to tease out that suggestion is the primary forum with all the leadership and stakeholders.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: I appreciate the administrative pressure that teaching principals are under. It is not a simple world. As the Chairman says, they are involved in construction if, for example, there are summer works, emergency works or additional accommodation, and they have to work with the board of management. It is quite a complex job. I am constantly considering ways to give more in the budget for...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: We never thought about that but it is a good suggestion. There was feedback to say we could not do it on a Friday because there would be carnage on a Friday night. Sometimes we have to trust the younger generation. The young people who celebrated their results on the Friday night did not do what some people expected them to do. That will be the date. It is too late in October so we will...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: Absolutely.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: Yes, but it is important that we highlight some of the good work that has been done and the moneys spent on education. I am talking about students, the welfare of families and their children in respect of what they have experienced over the past number of years. The Chairman would be the very first person to come in here and criticise if students in both national and secondary schools were...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Supplementary) (12 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: Since 2014, more than 2,600 projects have been funded as part of the summer works scheme. My officials are very eager to work with school principals on temporary accommodation issues. I urge school principals to get in touch with the Department because we do not want anybody to be without a school place in September 2020. I agree with what the Deputy said on apprenticeships. We want...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Services Staff (11 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: I reiterate that the talks have not broken down or collapsed. We come to a solution or agreement when people are around a table. Yes, there was disappointment about what was on the table. The talks in the WRC are confidential and I do not participate in them. Following this week's meeting, both sides acknowledged that the talks have not collapsed. While the management side must now...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Services Staff (11 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: Negotiations are ongoing and the talks have not collapsed.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Services Staff (11 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: I once again urge the Fórsa union to continue the talks. If they have not collapsed there is still an opportunity to find a solution.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Services Staff (11 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: I recognise the very important work done by school secretaries, caretakers and other support staff in the running of our schools. I have spoken to several school secretaries about their employment conditions and understand the issues they have raised. Earlier this year, I relaxed the moratorium for community, comprehensive and ETB schools with enrolments of 700 or more to allow them to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pension Provisions (11 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: Officials from the Pension Unit of my Department contacted your office seeking clarification in relation to your question, from which I understand that the query relates to the spouse of a retired teacher, where the retired teacher divorced and re-married after retirement. In general the pension entitlements of spouses of retired teachers who retire in advance of a divorce from a first...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (11 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: The DEIS programme allows for a reduced class size in Urban Band 1 primary schools with the application of a preferential staffing schedule to these schools of 20:1 at junior classes and 24:1 at senior classes to support those students at the highest risk of educational disadvantage. As the Deputy may be aware, DEIS Plan acknowledges the allocation of teaching resources to DEIS primary...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (11 Dec 2019)

Joe McHugh: In order to qualify for funding towards tuition fees, students must be first-time undergraduates, hold inter alia EU/EEA/Swiss nationality or certain permissions given by the Minister for Justice and Equality in their own right, and have been ordinarily resident in an EU/EEA/Swiss state for at least three of the five years preceding their entry to an approved third level course. Where...